Sepang, Malaysia—The new F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA will usher in a new era of Formula 3 as it gets underway this week at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit. The championship is the first to adopt the FIA’s global vision for the formula, where a single-chassis, single-engine concept will ensure the continued development of a category which has produced the greatest names in motorsport.
Commented Top Speed General Manager Davide De Gobbi: “The F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA is proud to open the new age of the formula. We have a superb team of expert partners and an international line-up of some of the best single seater teams and drivers in the world. We are looking forward to a season which will be ground-breaking for F3, and one which will place Asian motorsport firmly in the spotlight.”
With the motorsport world watching closely as the most radical development in junior single seater racing for decades begins, the new championship unveils a sensational line-up for its inaugural season.
UK team Hitech Dragon GP adds GP3 driver Jake Hughes to its previously announced line-up of South African Raoul Hyman and Charles Leong of Macau. Hughes finished fifth in the FIA F3 Championship last year and currently lies ninth in the 2018 GP3 Series. The 24-year-old Briton has an impressive career, having won the 2014 BRDC F4 Championship title and finishing sixth in the 2016 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix.
Respected Japanese outfit B-Max Racing Team has confirmed its entry with team principal DRAGON (Ryuji Kumita). Japanese Formula 3 National Class Champion last year, DRAGON contested the F3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup in 2017.
Pan-American-British-Chinese outfit Chase Owen Racing enters 25-year-old Texan-born team owner Chase Owen and 17-year-old Chinese driver James Yu, fifth in the 2016 Formula Masters China Series at the age of just 15. Also from China comes 16-year-old Shanghainese driver Daniel Cao, the 2017/18 F4 Southeast Asia Champion, racing with Pinnacle Motorsport.
SVC Asia has entered Kenyan Jeremy Wahome, while Super License enters Japanese duo Takashi Hata and Tomoki Takahashi, and M-Sport Asia fields Indian Akash Gowda.
At ZEN Motorsport, China’s Yin Hai Tao is joined by fellow countryman and 2017 F4 China runner-up Zheng Jianian. Meanwhile, Absolute Racing has announced Malaysian talent Akash Nandy will race alongside American Jaden Conwright. Joining Louis Prette at BlackArts Racing is Thomas Luedi.
